Environmental awareness: the vision of tourists and managers of hotel on the impacts of pollution of beaches tourism in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Tourism is perceived as an economic, social and cultural phenomenon with important social and environmental impacts. In Brazil, the Rio de Janeiro is a city that receives the most foreign tourists. However its beaches face problems because of pollution. In this context, analysis of the socio environmental awareness of tourists and hotel managers on the quality of Rio's beaches constitutes a factor in the reflection of environmental impacts and, above all, for public policies aimed at tourism. Thus, the objective of this research was to analyze the environmental awareness of tourists and managers of hotels on the impacts of pollution on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro tourism. To do this, they applied semi-structured questionnaires for tourists and managers of hotels. The results showed that tourists arriving in the city are more concerned with enjoying the beauties and the sights than to learn about the environmental conditions of Rio de Janeiro. It could be observed also that the beaches strongly influence the image they have of the city. For this reason, although most of them realize the pollution of beaches, both for aesthetics, as the public health, does not compromise the interest in visiting the Rio de Janeiro nor in attending the beaches for swimming. It is noteworthy that even in hotels that develop strategies that help educate guests, they continue with just tourists perception and do not seek to find out about potential health risks.